All posts for the month June, 2012

NOTE: I apparently had this sitting in my drafts for a few months! ~_~ Some of the thoughts at the beginning are terribly out of date, but the rest is still totally applicable! From late April…

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Turns out I was barely at home last weekend to even begin to start any more blog posts! Ah, well, at least I’ll get one under my belt today before my hectic weekend. I’m going on day 5 of 8 at work, which is dandy for my paycheck, but strangely, working half days all week before covering two full shifts for a co-worker doesn’t actually make one more productive. lol. Maybe that’s just me. :P I’ve found myself wanting to nap more than I ought to, then of course, I’ll have some trouble sleeping later at night, which only makes me tired for the next day, and more naps, et.c. It’s a vicious cycle. Add to that a few days of nasty weather and a few unfortunate set of circumstances, and I feel myself wearing thin. Today’s Friday, you say? Oh, I thought it was two days ago…

On the bright side, we are officially just under two weeks away from my birthday (yay me!) and a little over two weeks until I head back to Alaska for a week to visit family, and hopefully spend some time with my brother, while he’s running around spending his last few days of senior-dom before he’s set free upon the world. Should be fun. :)

But onto the actual topic of this post. I’m sure most of you at least know what Pinterest is, if you aren’t obsessed with pinning everything in site already. :) I’ll admit, back when I was planning my Halloween party, I was on it basically every day, mostly pinning my own inspiration, and occasionally finding my own among the users, before it was a wide-spread phenomenon. Below are a few things I like to pin – genres, if you will, which I think make Pinterest a little more interesting/useful/etc than your average photo-share site. (Though, yes, I will admit it is extremely similar to Tumblr in a lot of ways.) Click on the pictures to find the pin or site the pin is from.

Home Remedies

I love home remedies. I honestly have urges to put on a A-line dress, heels and bright red lipstick and conduct my house like June Cleaver. Or maybe like Lucy Ricardo, depending on the day. I’m also fascinated by how people conducted their live and found ways to do things before modern science had it’s way with the world. To something as simple as laundry soap to herbal remedies for ailments, and even planting and growing our own food…with all the picked, washed, and packaged food in our stores, the majority of America I believe is very out of touch with the natural world. Maybe that’s a little too proselytizing or political for some folks, and I certainly don’t expect every human on the planet to have first-hand knowledge of such things, but I do find the idea of helping ourselves (and most likely our planet, in the process) interesting. Having grown up in a fairly rural area, and now living in a city, I can appreciate both worlds, and I love that my city is so conscientious of recycling, composting, and keeping the earth green. Here are some of my favourite home remedies I’ve found while on Pinterest:

Homemade Laundry Soap

The ingredients to make this laundry soap can be a little expensive at first, but overall, it makes a TON of laundry soap, and will last longer and cost you less in the long run. Worth a try! Our clothes don’t necessarily need a bunch of different chemicals/scents to get clean! Not that long ago, people still used standard soap and a washboard…we’re lucky! Also, the woman whose blog hosts this idea has ideas for almost homemade anything! I’ve been a little obsessed with her site for a while now…go check it out! OneGoodThingByJillee.

Orange Citrus-Vinegar Cleaner

We all know citrus has some amazing cleaning powers – it’s why it’s in almost any cleaner you’ll find now! But I bet you didn’t know VINEGAR is always awesome. We can clean with it, bake with it, make salad dressing with it…it’s a multipurpose tool. I really need to keep more of it around! Adding orange peel to vinegar and letting it sit for two weeks will provide you with a nice cleaning concentrate that smells much better than some harsh chemicals or plain vinegar. Plain vinegar can also be used as a weed repellant! Apple cider vinegar is amazing for rinsing your hair of buildup, cleaning up breakouts on our skin, and ingested, helps with your digestive tract, too. You may not love the smell of it, but vinegar is clearly a powerful little tool to have around.

Fixing Broken Makeup

Rubbing alcohol can fix your broken makeup! Just dab a few drops onto your broken makeup, and re-form the makeup into your compact. Let it dry overnight, and voila! fixed makeup, and money saved. The alcohol evaporates, so it won’t dry out your skin, or smell afterwards. Win-win!

Home Teeth Whitening Solutions

Now, I’m lucky enough to not have any severe stains on my teeth – but I do drink coffee and soda on occasion, and my teeth are not as white as I would like. This blogger suggests using hydrogen peroxide (yes, really) and baking soda as a nice, cheap way to get your teeth a few shades whiter at home. Considering Isee “Arm & Hammer” baking soda in lots of cleaning products now (laundry detergent, and even toothpaste) it’s a wonder I didn’t think of this before! Check out this two-step process, but don’t over-do it. Over-whitening can wear down the enamel on your teeth, and once it’s gone, you can’t get it back!

Food

I eat with my eyes. And my nose, if the food happens to be in the same room as I’m in. Yes, this means green and purple ketchup are on my list of things that never should have been invented. No, they do not taste the same as regular red ketchup. Yes, tomatoes are green before they’re ripe, but not THAT green. Fried green tomatoes are delicious, but at least they’re real, non-color-treated food. I don’t want my hot dog or burger looking like something out of a Play-doh set, thank you. So one of the things I love about Pinterest (and really any blog involving food) is SEEING the food before I try it. Don’t you just love it when cookbooks have lots of pictures? Especially with more complicated recipes, or techniques the average home chef doesn’t have in their arsenal. A recipe is one thing, but if I don’t know what the directions mean, god knows what’s going to come out of the oven. And I’m a fairly well-learned cook, but even I like to make sure I know what I’m doing. Of course, even when I think something isn’t quite right, my guinea pigs (aka: roommates) tell me it’s amazing. I try to tell myself that my pallette is just more developed than theirs, but I’m probably just too hard on myself. lol. Anyhow, quickly looking through pins for food ideas is fun. Easier than looking through a cookbook or blog, and can sometimes inspire other things, as well.

Apple Pie Cookies

I love apples. I love apple pie. Apple crisp. Apple cinnamon tea. Fresh apples. Apple juice. Apple cider. Apple-scented candles/plug-ins. APPLES. Anyhow, lol, these are a great idea especially if you don’t want to make a whole pie (which might be easier, actually), or having one piece of pie is just too much. (In my opinion, there’s never enough pie.) There is a higher crust-to-filling ratio, but don’t they look delicious? YUM.

Homemade seasonings.

Maybe it takes a bit more time than ripping open a packet of your favourite seasoning, but you know exactly what’s going in, and you’ll feel much better saying “I made this!” This could even be considered a home remedy, because somebody had to come up with a way to easily season food with what they had at home, right? :D

Rainbow Frosting

I love finding neat ideas like this! It’s creative and food related, and that’s always something I can get behind!

Home Decorating & Craft Ideas

I don’t yet own my own house, but I’ve probably been dreaming and re-dreaming my dream house since I was five. When I was a kid, I perused floor plan magazines, no kidding. :) Though I know nothing’s perfect, and even if I build my dream home from the foundation up, there will always be something to improve on, but in the meantime, I just LOVE finding new ideas to decorate or renovate a home.

Under-the-Stairs Storage

I don’t know how anyone could NOT love this idea! I don’t know what I’d put in this kind of storage space if I had it, but I’m sure it would get full quick!

Fabric Uses

These ideas are so versatile and cheap! Sometimes just adding a little fabric or wallpaper can really brighten up the look of a room or furniture piece!

Glossy Wallpaper

I LOVE this idea. It’s an amazing way to create some dimension to your walls. If I ever have my own house… ;)

Cupboard Makeover

I love giving new life to old pieces. I have a few old drawer sets I’d like to do this to! It would definitely help keep them from looking so white and boring like they do now!

Egg Carton Lights

Like I’ve said, I love finding new uses for things. And I really want to make these lights now and hang them up all over! Of course, I’m a fan of having lots of twinkling lights everywhere anyway! They add a bit of romanticism to a space.

Another thing I’m totally loving (and is also on Pinterest) is my friend Tia Song’s Luv Handles – beaded stainless steel serve ware with some class! I wish I could afford some of these – especially for my mom, she’d love some. Tia’s even received some orders from Tom Cruise and has recently come up with a line inspired by Tori Spelling! It’s really beautiful, check out the mint and light pink on this bottle topper:

She’s got some other great collections and can do custom orders as well. She’s also been recognized as a Martha Stewart Doer of the Week! And she’s been doing all this with a precocious little boy at home! I admire her creativity and business sense, and I can only hope my crafts take off as well. I wish her all the best in her business endeavor. It seems to be really taking off!